


If They Find Out We Can Shapeshift

by Morvidra



Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen, Magic, Makeup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 09:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13784322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morvidra/pseuds/Morvidra
Summary: You know that fic where the pretty girl gives her plain friend a makeover to make her the belle of the ball?This isn't that fic.





	If They Find Out We Can Shapeshift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hhertzof](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hhertzof/gifts).



“Do you want to look pretty?” Agatha asks. She knows she sounds dubious, even though she’s trying not to. ‘Pretty’ isn’t really Penelope’s style.

Penelope taps her glasses against her other hand. “Actually I want to look vaguely threatening, with a side order of beautiful, but in a terrifying way.”

“Right.” That does sound more like Penelope’s cup of tea. Agatha reaches for her makeup kit. “We can do that.”

“Remind me why Watford is having a costume ball again?” Penelope asks, irritated. Her eyes are shut while Agatha wields a makeup brush near them. 

“Because the Mage thinks he’s Robin Hood, and we’re the Merry Musketeers,” Agatha doesn’t say this out loud, because some things don’t get said even in the privacy of bedrooms at Watford. (Except by Baz, who is most likely immortal.) She’s thinking it pretty loudly though.

“School bonding,” she says instead. “It’s to promote inter- and intra-school co-operation, and assist in forming trans-Atlantic bonds between the magical communities.”

“Yes, I was at that school assembly too,” Penelope says dryly. “Well done, remembering it word-for-word.”

Agatha shrugs. It’s just the way her memory works – she can listen to a long speech and parrot it back verbatim. It’s like having a built-in ‘record’ app somewhere in her brain, she thinks, and it’s not much use for exams because it doesn’t help her analyse what she remembers.

But she doesn’t say any of this either.

“What spell shall I use?” she asks instead. “I’m not sure about **_Eye of the beholder_** – it’s awfully subjective. Everyone who looked at you would see something different.”

Penelope grins. “That sound like fun,” she says. “But no, I think not. What about **_Handsome is as handsome does_**?”

“Do you want to have to be nice to everyone all evening?” Agatha asks. She’s brushing highlight onto Penelope’s cheekbones while they’re talking – there isn’t a glamour spell in existence that can’t do with a little help from makeup, after all. Anyway, it’s soothing – it reminds Agatha of preparing for dance performances.

She had to stop dance lessons when she went to Watford. It’s the only thing she regrets. 

(That isn’t quite true, but it’s the only thing she’ll admit to.)

“What are you doing with your hair?” she asks instead. Agatha isn’t going to try to style Penelope’s hair – the texture is too different to her own, and she knows she’ll make a mess of it.

“I’m brushing it out and leaving it,” Penelope says. Her hair is deep purple this year. It looks good, Agatha thinks.

“There’s always **_Beauty is Power_** ,” Penelope adds, her brows furrowing a little in thought.

“I don’t like that one very much,” Agatha says. She doesn’t like the thought of power. Spells related to it don’t work well for her.

“ ** _Beauty is Truth_** , then? That’s a classic.”

Agatha raises her eyebrows. “We’re going to a _costume ball_ , Penny. Dressing up as people we aren’t is the essence of untruth.”

“Mm. Good point.” Penelope sighs.

Agatha is nearly done with the makeup when the idea comes to her.

“Penny,” she says, “Trust me?”

Penelope opens one eye, warily.

“I want to try something,” Agatha says. “I’ll reverse it if you don’t like it, I promise.”

“Okay…” Penelope says warily.

Agatha has her wand in her hand already. **_“All shall love me and despair!”_**

The glamour is instant. The shadows on Penelope’s face deepen, the highlights are sharpened, and the contours of her face shift indefinably. She’s still Penelope, but she looks somehow more dangerous – beautiful, but deadly.

“Oh,” Agatha says. “I think that worked.”

“I’m putting my glasses on,” Penelope warns. “I want to see this before I decide.”

She scrutinises her reflection. The cat-eye glasses don’t make her look any less terrifying, Agatha notices.

“That’s brilliant,” Penelope says eventually. She turns her head, checking a few angles. “Exactly the effect I wanted.”

“You look like a vampire,” Agatha notes.

“Simon will hate it,” Penelope agrees. “What are you using for yourself?”

“ ** _Out of sight, out of mind_** ,” Agatha says. When she leaves the room, no-one will wonder where she’s gone, or try to find her. She’s not a party person.

Penelope nods. “Good choice.”

They’re quite different people, but Agatha thinks that might be why they’re friends

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you start thinking about Watford and Hogwarts, and how they both had exchange students one year.
> 
> And then you think 'hey, I wonder if Watford had a Yule Ball?'
> 
> (Title is from Sailor J's YouTube video 'Contouring 101')


End file.
